The present invention relates to household devices for food storage, and more particularly to an improved bread storage device capable of keeping a loaf of sliced bread in a self-sealing container with an easy to operate serving drawer that can readily avail any part or all of the stored loaf to the user.
In households and commercial establishments that serve dining customers, the storage of food products to preserve their freshness and flavor is of major importance. Outside of the freezer and refrigerator, many food products, particularly bread, have been stored in kitchens at room temperature to preserve their taste and texture and are often stored in closed containers within easy reach of those who prepare and/or consume the food products. Breadboxes, for example, have long been known and used in American kitchens to slow down the process of staling or retro-gradation of fresh bread, a process in which the starch in the bread transposes to a crystalline form in the presence of the water contained in the bread itself. Because this process can actually be accelerated at cooler temperatures of a refrigerator, the breadbox was designed to sit outside the refrigerator to keep their contents at room temperature and prolong edible storage time. By way of further design criteria, closure of the breadbox was generally loose enough to allow some airflow that would reduce condensation and prevent mold formation and tight enough to protect the contents from bugs and other pests. These breadboxes have remained somewhat popular in commercial usage and can be now found in a variety of structural configurations that are made of various materials, including metal, wood, ceramic and even marble. As a kitchen countertop item, the breadbox of today, however, seems to have become more popular more for their appearance and less for their bread storing function because of limitations evident in their capability to conveniently dispense the stored bread, especially the slices of a pre-sliced loaf, for ready consumption or use in making a sandwich or other food preparations.
The prior art evidences various breadbox-type devices that have been devised and developed principally for storing fresh bread but with an added eye toward facilitating the serving of the stored bread in whole or in part or dispensing the stored bread in one or more individual slices at the selection of the user. A few examples of these prior art breadbox-type devices are found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,915,353 to Michaelsen; U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,932 to Giffin; U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,145 to Fassauer; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,601,498 to O'Brion. While these and other prior art bread storage devices have been generally satisfactory in their functional use, they have had limitations in their ability to draw or remove air from the bread storage container of their articulated structure while effecting closure which can effectively increase the amount of time bread can be stored without going stale, and further have included structural components and mechanisms for serving and/or dispensing the stored bread that have been somewhat complicated and difficult to maintain in a working assembly. There is a need, therefore, for an improved bread storage device capable of keeping a loaf of sliced bread fresher for a longer period of time and when needed, readily able to dispense to the user one or more selected bread slices from the stored loaf for use or consumption.